The Hidden Risk in “Best Practices”: Why B2B CEOs Must Stop Looking Backward to Move Forward

By Lucrum Partners

In B2B leadership circles, few terms are as comfortably overused—and dangerously misleading—as “best practices.”

For CEOs tasked with defining their company’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy, relying on best practices can feel like a safe bet. After all, they’re often promoted as field-tested methods that have produced results. But here's the problem: best practices are historical. They’re based on what worked then, not necessarily what works now—and almost never what will work next.

When it comes to designing a modern GTM strategy—especially in today’s shifting B2B landscape—playing it safe by looking in the rearview mirror may be the riskiest move of all.

The B2B Buyer Has Changed. Have You?

Recent research makes it crystal clear: the B2B buying process has evolved far beyond what most traditional sales strategies were built for.

• According to Forrester, 63% of B2B purchases now involve four or more people, and more than 60% of buying decisions are made before a seller is even engaged.

• 6sense reports that more than 80% of the buyer journey happens in digital and anonymous channels, where traditional GTM tactics and sales scripts never reach.

• Corporate Visions’ Decision Science research finds that buyers don’t just need information—they need help making confident decisions in a sea of risk and conflicting priorities. The most effective sales and marketing strategies now guide buyers through decisional complexity, not just product features.

Best practices fail in this context because they were designed for a different buyer, a different market tempo, and a different competitive landscape.

Best Practices Are Static. Buyer Behavior Isn’t.

The real risk is this: when you design your GTM strategy, sales training, talent strategy, and metrics based on outdated best practices, you’re architecting your growth system based on yesterday’s reality.

Think about it:

• You're hiring for sales traits that no longer win deals.

• You're training teams using sales motions that don’t map to how buyers actually decide.

• You're measuring success using KPIs that may have no connection to real purchase momentum.

In other words, you’re executing a strategy designed to win a game that your buyers no longer play.

What Forward-Looking CEOs Do Differently

The most effective B2B leaders are abandoning generic playbooks in favor of buyer-informed design.

Here’s how they build their GTM engines:

✅ They anchor every part of their strategy in buyer feedback and decision science. This includes not just marketing messaging, but also how they train sellers to navigate risk, build consensus, and deliver business outcomes.

✅ They rethink what "sales effectiveness" looks like. It’s no longer just about activity volume or qualification checklists. It’s about enabling sellers to influence complex buying groups, accelerate confidence, and de-risk decisions.

✅ They realign metrics around buyer progress, not seller process. Instead of tracking how many calls a rep made, they ask: Did the buyer move forward in their journey? Did the seller advance their confidence in our solution?

A Call to Action: Build From the Buyer Up

If you’re a CEO evaluating your 2025 GTM strategy, ask yourself:

• Have we tested our messaging against real buyer reactions?

• Are our sellers equipped to win at the executive level, where risk and cross-functional dynamics dominate?

• Do our sales metrics measure activity—or buyer progress?

• Are we designing our revenue strategy from internal beliefs or external truths?

The right answer doesn’t lie in a “proven” best practice. It lies in your buyers.

Don’t let your GTM strategy become a shrine to what once worked. The future belongs to companies that build systems of growth anchored in how today’s buyers actually buy.

About Lucrum Partners: We believe that relevance = revenue. We help B2B leaders design buyer-informed sales strategies that drive measurable growth. Our approach is rooted in decision science, tested messaging, and hands-on experience helping teams navigate complexity and scale.

If you’re ready to future-proof your GTM strategy, let’s talk.